Friday, June 11, 2010

A chat with the boss...

Yesterday I had a chat with my boss about teaching. He suggested, when trying to teach, try to start with 'why' we do something the way we do (at my work). Or at least make sure to include it in the training. That way, people are less likely to think that I am a 'know it all' even though all I'm trying to do is help and make things easier on everyone. He also suggested I praise often (which I already knew).

For as long as I can remember, I have had trouble addressing people when trying to train. At least as a teacher, I am in the position that they are the student and I am the teacher. However, at work, some people don't see me as the teacher (even though I am the in store trainer) so they get offended when I try to help them. I like to blame it on my 'man voice' but I also know that I have a very direct approach (no beating around the bush here). So far in life, I feel that has worked for me, instead of sugar coating things, telling people what I expect and why I expect it. I intend on keeping on that front but have definitely worked on my 'tact' when it comes to addressing things to co-workers as I am NOT their teacher and they may feel offended when a younger person is telling them a better way of doing what they are doing. As my manager said, "it doesn't matter HOW they do it as long as it gets done" which of course, doesn't happen nearly enough which is WHY i teach people different ways. It is hard for me to see people struggling with something and not being able to help them. But I also understand that being a good teacher, is some times letting them figure it out on their own. My job, is to make sure they have plenty of opportunities to figure things out on their own instead of just assuming they will figure it out later in life.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

I am looking for young adult books to read...

Does anyone have any suggestions?
I have just finished reading The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon and it reminds me of when I read Catcher and the Rye in High school.... I'm not sure how much students would love this book but it is quite interesting because it is about the inner thoughts of a boy with autism. However, as a student, I remember hating books like this because it is filled with a lot of 'random talk' that isn't actually interesting and has nothing to do with what is going on in the story... in this day and age kids are used to reading books with a beginning, middle and end and lots of action (which keeps them in connected to the book instead of getting bored with it).

You have to remember, that students are used to toggling in media, jumping from MSN to facebook to watching their favourite television show...therefore reading a book with a lot of 'filling' might lose the readers interest.

So if anyone has any good YA books I should read please let me know!